• Amid the Trump regime’s brutal crackdown on migrants from Central America, detainees have been subjected to forced labor, a pernicious form of human trafficking. According to In These Times, magazine private prison corporations who operate most of the nation’s immigrant detention centers, are illegally forcing migrants to work for sub-minimum wages.
(“ICE Accused of Overseeing Human Trafficking,” In These Times, May 29, 2018)
• Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram, now an affiliate of the Islamic State, emerged as a murderous threat over the last decade in the Lake Chad basin. Its name literally means “western education is forbidden.” According to the United Nations Children’s Fund the Islamist movement has kidnapped over a thousand children and killed over 2300 teachers. The group gained international attention when it kidnapped 276 schoolgirls in Chibok in 2014.
( “Fighting Boko Haram with Books,” Christian Science Monitor, June 19, 2018; “Nigeria: Blast Kills Dozens, Boko Haram Militants Blamed,” DW.com, June 17, 2018)
• Minutes after the tragic crash of a Cuban airliner as it took off from Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport, state run media was filled with breaking news updates and cell phone videos reporting on the crash that killed 112 people, the worst airline crash in Cuba in decades.
(“Cuba Loosens Grip on Media, Allowing for More Independent Reporting,” Christian Science Monitor, June 21, 2018)
